Within the next few days, you will likely see plenty of campaign information. In one campaign flier, The Daily Collegian is quoted.

The flier, titled Joe Wakeley for Mayor, quotes The Daily Collegian as saying "Joe Wakeley hopes to incorporate students into local government." I believe this information is misleading, and I would like tell you why.

The quote is from a Collegian article that ran on April 26, 1993. The information quoted is from a subhead (a smaller headline summarizing the article) to the article which reads "Wakeley hopes to incorporate students into local government." The headline to the article is "Mayoral candidates run unopposed in primary."

In 1993, most of this staff at The Daily Collegian could not read a newspaper, let alone write for one. The flier gives the appearance that the Collegian is endorsing the candidate. In fact, the Collegian's editorial board has not yet published an endorsement for either candidate.

Further, the document is misleading because it uses information from 1993 to make a statement about a current campaign. It's disappointing that Mr. Wakeley chose to feature this quote on a card distributed to the students he hopes to soon be his constituents. Use of the Collegian's name like this is not something to be taken lightly.

A Collegian reporter recently asked the candidate about the quote.

"That wasn't meant to be a thing relative to the Collegian," Wakeley said. "It was meant to be me," he said.

"... in 1993, I followed the same series direction for pursuits ... and here in 2009, I am saying the same thing. I feel the same way," Wakeley said. "I was trying to indicate that I was the same person, I wasn't just trying to put forth something to get votes. This is something I did in 1993, and here we are years later, and it's the same."

Wakeley is free to campaign on the same principles, of course. But he's obligated to be transparent with the people he's campaigning to represent. This flier was not. Instead, it comes off as a dishonest political move. And it's unfortunate because it's something that could have been so easily remedied by simply explaining that the information came from a 1993 article and that those campaign principles are still important to him.

Wakeley is seeking the position of a figurehead for the borough. A figurehead does not represent himself in this way. Anyone who campaigns for the mayoral position must be held to a higher standard. Standards of honesty and transparency should not be too much to ask.

-Collegian staff writer Jacquie Tylka contributed an interview with Wakeley to this report.

--Rossilynne